People in world history

[.Godfather. 1441]

Karl Marx

Karl Marx, along with Friedrich Engels, defined communism. Their most famous work was the Communist Manifesto (1848), in which they argued that the working class should rebel and build a Communist society

[.Godfather. 1441]

Portrait of Michelangelo

 

Italian artist Michelangelo's extraordinary accomplishments in painting, sculpture, and architecture made him one of the outstanding figures in Renaissance art. During his lifetime (1475-1564) he influenced many young artists, including the Florentine writer and painter Giorgio Vasari, who included this likeness of Michelangelo in one of his own works

[.Godfather. 1441]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, an 18th-century Austrian classical composer and one of the most famous musicians of all time, came from a family of musicians that included his father and sister. Mozart wrote masses, oratorios, symphonies, concertos, sonatas, and more, but he is best known for his operas. These include Don Giovanni (1787), Così fan tutte (All Women Do So, 1790), and Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute, 1791

[.Godfather. 1441]

Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte was the greatest military genius of the 19th century. He conquered most of Western Europe and Egypt for France, while instituting reforms in these new territories aimed at guaranteeing civil liberties and improving the quality of life. He crowned himself emperor of France in 1804 and introduced reforms intended to unify the revolution-fractured nation. Many of Napoleon’s reforms are still in effect today

[.Godfather. 1441]

Sir Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton’s work represents one of the greatest contributions to science ever made by an individual. Most notably, Newton derived the law of universal gravitation, invented the branch of mathematics called calculus, and performed experiments investigating the nature of light and color

[.Godfather. 1441]

Peter the Great

Peter the Great brought Western culture to Russia, built roads and canals, modernized the army and navy, and secured seaports for trade. By doing so, Peter realized his goal of turning Russia into a great world power

[.Godfather. 1441]

Plato

Plato, one of the most famous philosophers of ancient Greece, was the first to use the term philosophy, which means “love of knowledge.” Born around 428 bc, Plato investigated a wide range of topics. Chief among his ideas was the theory of forms, which proposed that objects in the physical world merely resemble perfect forms in the ideal world, and that only these perfect forms can be the object of true knowledge. The goal of the philosopher, according to Plato, is to know the perfect forms and to instruct others in that knowledge

[.Godfather. 1441]

Marco Polo

Famous Italian traveler Marco Polo journeyed to the court of the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan in 1275, where he quickly became a favorite of the khan. He traveled throughout Asia on diplomatic missions for the khan, returning to his native Venice in 1295. His account of his explorations is considered one of the most famous travel guides in history

[.Godfather. 1441]

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

As the only United States president elected to four terms, Franklin Delano Roosevelt guided the nation for 12 years, through the Great Depression and World War II. Roosevelt initiated a series of programs, termed the New Deal, to help bring the U.S. back to prosperity. Although he was crippled by polio at age 39, he continued his political career, which spanned 35 years. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, less than three months after he began his fourth term

[.Godfather. 1441]

William Shakespeare

English playwright and poet William Shakespeare, who lived in the late 1500s and early 1600s, is regarded as the greatest dramatist in the history of English literature. He had a profound understanding of human nature and human behavior, and he was able to communicate this knowledge through the wide variety of characters he created in his plays

[.Godfather. 1441]

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin was supreme leader of the Soviet Union from 1929 until 1953

[.Godfather. 1441]

Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria reigned for 63 years, the longest reign in the history of England. Those years, from 1837 to 1901, became known as the Victorian Age and were marked by the rise of the middle class and a deeply conservative morality

[.Godfather. 1441]

George Washington

On April 30, 1789, 57-year-old George Washington took the oath of office as the first president of the United States. After Washington took the oath on the portico at Federal Hall in New York City, thousands of citizens cheered and 13 cannons fired a salute. Inside, Washington delivered his inaugural address in the Senate Chambers. Excerpt recited by an actor